Photo: DAZN – David Benavidez added a green belt to his collection last Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Boxing fans were treated to a fantastic weekend with six world titles at stake. Let’s take a look at it, from Vegas to Brazil, with a trip in Europe.
Tank destroys Frank
The main attraction of the weekend was undoubtedly the return of Baltimore’s enfant terrible, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (30-0, 28 KOs). The latter fought for the first time since his victory over Ryan Garcia, almost 14 months ago, having been followed by a detention of almost 2 months for a story of hit and run and breach of conditions.
Entering the ring to the song ‘Ghostebuster’, a nod to the nickname of his opponent, Frank ‘The Ghost’ Martin (18-1, 12 KOs), Davis first shook off the rust. Patient, as usual, he chased Errol Spence Jr’s protégé for 8 rounds, until Martin’s legs tired… and he suffered a hard-hitting knockout.
What’s next for Davis?
Honestly, I doubt a rematch with Ryan Garcia will ever happen. ‘Tank’ arrived almost two pounds under the 135 lb limit and ‘KingRy’ is no longer even capable of going down to 140 lb… Besides, when they exchanged after Davis’ triumph, Garcia had the looks like a middleweight next to him…
A long-awaited fight against Vasyl Lomachenko seems much more likely, even according to Bob Arum! Clearly, we waited for ‘Loma’ to age a little, but all the same, the Ukrainian’s performance against Kambosos Jr demonstrated that he still had a lot to offer…
Otherwise, the best fight would probably be against Shakur Stevenson, but tragically, there is less money to be made with that. It will also be interesting to see where Stevenson will go, he who seems to be in his last miles – and his last fight – with Top Rank.
Mysterious Benavidez
In the super middleweight category, David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) got us used to slow starts, then took control of the fight and broke his opponents. For his first light heavyweight championship fight, he gave us the opposite in the Davis-Martin co-main event.
The ‘Mexican Watch’ got off to a flying start in the first 8 rounds, but then seemed to slow down, en route to a very clear victory against ex-light heavyweight monarch Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-2, 16 K .-O.), which to this day has only been stopped by Artur Beterbiev.
Regardless, Benavidez gets his hands on the interim 175 lb title, adding to the one of 168 lb already in his possession. After the fight, he remained vague about his plans, saying he wanted to face the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol, but also win one last title at 168 lbs.
According to the rules, Benavidez will have 10 days to choose which belt he will keep, a decision having a direct impact on Christian Mbilli’s career… but hey, the WBC is not always strong on respecting its own rules…
Adames retains his title
Speaking of the WBC, she had waited almost 2 years, no title defense and an arrest to finally take the middleweight title away from Jermall Charlo. Carlos Adames, long-time interim champion, made his first defense as full champion against Olympian Terrell Gausha.
Mission accomplished for ‘Bronco’ Adames (24-1, 18 KOs) who retained the belt by unanimous decision in a fight that absolutely will not go down in history…
PAROOO!
While many eyes were on Las Vegas, we were treated to quite a surprise on the island of Puerto Rico, where the Australian Liam Paro (24-0, 15 KOs) came to spoil the return at the home of Subriel Matias (20-2, 20 KOs).
Paro defeated the Puerto Rican via a 12-round unanimous decision, despite a questionable decision by Puerto Rican referee Luis Pabon to deduct a point without warning for blows to the back of the head.
According to Eddie Hearn, the Australian should now face his mandatory challenger, the American of Haitian origin, Richardson Hitchins (18-0, 7 KOs).
Fun fact: If he faces Hitchins, Paro will already be his 7th undefeated opponent in 25 fights.
American upsets
Speaking of undefeated opponents, several checked out this Saturday. In addition to Frank Martin, now 18-1, Gary Antuanne Russell (17-1, 17 KOs) maintained his KO ratio perfect, but not his superb record. The American was upset by the Dominican Alberto Puello (23-0, 10 KOs), via a split decision concluding a fight with the WBC interim super-lightweight title at stake.
Again in Vegas, middleweight prospect Elijah Garcia (16-1, 13 KOs) also tasted defeat for the first time, by split decision, against veteran Kyrone ‘Shut It Down’ Davis ( 19-3-1, 6 KOs).
British upsets
Earlier today, in the United Kingdom, the WBO light heavyweight king, but betting underdog, Chris Billam-Smith (20-1, 13 KOs) managed to defend his title for a second time, while avenging his only career defeat. By boxing more on the inside, this time, ‘The Gentleman’ unanimously convinced the judges to gave him the nod against his country-mate, Richard Riakporhe (17-1, 13 KOs).
A day earlier, another Englishman was upset, the former IBO super-middleweight champion, Lerrone Richard (18-1, 4 KOs), mainly known for his victory against Carlos Góngora.
Undoubtedly due to a style little appreciated by fans and TV networks, Richards never really capitalized on this victory, ultimately being stopped in 6 rounds, 30 months later, by the English gatekeeper Steve Woodall (19-2- 1, 12 KO).
News from Brazil
There was also action in South America, where one card featured a draw between two former UFC stars, Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.
What caught our attention was the Brazilian super middleweight championship duel between the gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, Herbert Conceicao (6-0, 3 KOs) and the silver medalist at the London Olympics , Esquiva Falcao (30-2, 20 KOs).
Because yes, Falcoa lost by unanimous decision in his first fight since his upset defeat in 2023 at the hands of Vicenzo Gualtieri, for the vacant IBF middleweight title.
Falcao is also known in Quebec for being the only one to have defeated Patrice Volny in an unfortunate 6 round technical decision, in 2021.
The PG Agenda
To watch this week:
Espinoza vs. Sanchez
Top Rank’s new signing, who recently upsets Robeisy Ramirez, Rafael Espinoza (24-0, 20 KOs), will defend his WBO featherweight title at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. He will cross swords with his Mexican compatriot Sergio Chirino Sanchez (22-1, 13 KOs) next Friday.
Arthur vs. Cameron
Next Friday again, world contender Lyndon Arthur (23-2, 16 KOs) will return to the ring for the first time since Dmitry Bivol knocked him out for 12 rounds last December. On paper, he should find his way back to victory against Liam Cameron (23-5, 10 KOs), but as we saw with Leronne Richards… anything can happen in this kind of local fight.
Denny vs. Cash
On another English card, this time presented on Sunday, hopeful Felix Cash (16-0, 10 KOs) will try to get his hands on the European title from world contender Tyler Denny (18-2 -3, 1 KO).
Panthen vs. Toney
The find of the week, since it’s quiet. In a Californian ‘club show’ presented this Thursday, the American Jordan Panthen (8-0, 7 KOs) will try to remain undefeated against the not-at-all-legendary second cousin of the legendary James Toney, Victor Toney (8- 2-1, 6 KOs), aged 36 and represented by Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing.
If I wrote about this fight, I think I wrote everything. Take care of y’all!
